


How to make friends and influence people in the apocalypse

by neworld



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Apocalypse, Gen, Loneliness, Pre-Canon, Sibling Love, Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-13 13:24:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20174983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neworld/pseuds/neworld





	How to make friends and influence people in the apocalypse

It was a clear, windless day, one of the clearest days since the terrifying bolt of power had blasted out a massive chunk of the moon. The sun shone gently on the broken city cape of crumbled buildings and rubble covered in a layer of ash and dust. It was eerily quiet, everything on earth that had been capable of making sound was dead. A few insects and plants had survived, the strange creatures in the depths of the ocean were largely unaffected by the apocalypse, but there were no birds to sing, no rats to scurry, the world was mostly silent and still. A broken mannequin lay in the rubble that had once been a department store. The store was still partially intact though the glass storefront was shattered and the shelves and racks of clothes were all knocked down. Large chunks of concrete and bricks from other collapsed buildings had been flung into the store and lay around like discarded leggo blocks. A layer of ash and dust coated everything, including the mannequin. Drifts of ash had collected in the indents around its unblinking eyes. The interior of the destroyed store was dark but illuminated unevenly with fingers of light that broke the in through the shattered front wall. The chaotic remains were oddly peaceful, dust motes danced in the beams of sunlight. 

But then something miraculous happened. The peace was broken by a human being of all things. A gangling, teenage boy climbed into the building through the shattered window and began rummaging around the detritus, stirring up dust. The boy was dressed in clothes that spoke of practicality over appearance, a bandanna covered his mouth and nose, a pair of aviator goggles were keeping his hair from his eyes. He moved with a methodological care around the destroyed store. Carefully avoiding broken glass and trip hazards as he searched for what he needed.

Eventually his search led him to the broken mannequin. He didn't notice the plastic figure at right away but a piece of cloth underneath caught his eye. He pulled it out hopefully which shifted the dummy, dislodging the ash from its face. The sudden appearance of a woman's face, serene and adorned with makeup, made the boy jump back and gasp. But he quickly realized what he was looking at. For a moment he just stood there staring at the plastic face. A sad, wistful expression in his green eyes. Then he dropped the fabric he was holding and moved to the mannequin, propping it up until it looked as if it were sitting, tilting its frozen face to meet his. He carefully wiped the rest of the ash from its face with his sleeve.

"Sorry if I startled you." The boy said eventually. "I didn't realize there was anyone else here." 

He moved away from her and resumed his rummaging through the fallen racks of clothes.

"Nice day today." He continued conversationally. "All things considered." 

The sky had been full of ash for months so despite the depressing reality he found myself in, the boy could not help but rejoice at seeing the clear blue sky. 

"I was starting to worry it might be like that forever." he continued. "You know? With all the smoke and ash? I haven't seen any animals since I got here, but there is a chance plants will have survived. They can't live long without sunlight though. That would have made things even more dire." 

As he moved around the store he raised and lowered his voice in accordance to how far he was from the dummy. 

"It's starting to get colder though, I need to find warmer clothes." He continued as he pulled up what seemed to an overcoat. He shook most of the ash off it and pulled his thin arms into the much too big sleeves, scowling. 

"It will do if I can't find anything better." He said. "But hopeful I'll find something closer to my size." He turned back to the broken dummy. 

"Did you work here per chance? Don't suppose you could direct me to the correct isle." He chuckled dryly to himself. Suddenly his face hardened, he frowned.

"You know it keeps hitting me...all the things I never got to do." He said glaring at the pile of broken metal and ripped fabric. "I never went shopping for clothes before all this." He shook his head. "I never even thought I'd care about something trivial like that, but now I might never have the opportunity...never get to decide how I like to dress, what I'd like to look like...It does bother me." 

After a bit more rummaging the boy found a better jacket. Better quality fabric, and a much closer fit.

"Of course I will have a chance to do all the things when I get back." He said buttoning the new coat with a satisfied smile, this was turning out to be a pretty good day. 

"I'm going to work out how to get back eventually. It's just that the equation doesn't work in reverse, turns out going forward in time is much easier than going back..."

He paused and frowned at the mannequin.

"What do you mean obviously?" He raised his eyebrows. "Oh I guess you're right, we are always moving forward in time."

The boy sighed.

"Once I get back I'm not messing around with time travel again for a few years at least." he walked back over to the mannequin and sat beside it on the rubble. 

"I hate to admit it but my father was right. And I_ really_ hate to admit it. My old man is one of the few things I don't miss." The boy sat quietly for a minute, resting before he had to make the trek back to his camp. Eventually he got up and dusted his hands.

"It's been nice talking to you." He told the broken mannequin sincerely. "I haven't spoken to anyone in a long time."

He smiled at her. "What's your name?" 

There was a beat of silence.

"That's nice, old fashioned, I like it. I'm Five by the way. That is, my name is Five, I'm not Five years old. See there's another one of those things I was talking about. I've never had to introduce myself before because everyone I ever interacted with I had either known my entire life or was an insane criminal trying to kill me, so it has never occurred to me before now that I might confuse people when introducing myself. " He shook his head.

"Anyway, nice meeting you Dolores." He gave her a two fingered salute/wave and left the building.

Dolores remained propped up there in the broken building for several months. She was largely unaffected by this passage of time. Being made of plastic she was pretty resilient to the elements, and she was mostly sheltered from weather by the remaining structure of the building. 

When the boy returned he had clearly been affected by the time that had passed. He slipped back into the broken department building one cold grey afternoon. It had been raining all week and the building was full of eerily black puddles from the dissolved ash.

Five had clearly been drinking, and crying. He looked gaunt and desperate and exhausted. 

"Hello again." he said when he returned, dripping wet and clutching a small bottle of whisky in one hand. 

"Long time no see, how has the end of days been treating you?" His hair was longer and his clothes were more ragged and filthy.

"This was the last time I felt like a person." He told her tiredly as he sat down next to her. "Last time I spoke with you, I still felt like everything might work out."

"I don't know if I can do this." He told her brokenly, he hugged his knees, he was shaking. "I don't know if I can work out the equations, I don't know if I can stay alive long enough to get it right."

He sat, breathing in and out slowly, trying to calm down. 

"I might have to stay here a long time, maybe a really long time." He shook his head. "I don't know if I can do it. I miss living in a house, I miss real food, I miss indoor plumbing, I miss talking to other people."

He was starting to sob again. he hated it, he was usually a very stoic person and hated to show any weakness, but he was also fourteen and the hope he had about just slotting back into his life and chalking this all up to a horrible mistake was rapidly fading. 

"I miss all the people." Five told Dolores softly, like it an embarrassing secret. "Even the ones I don't know. But more than anything I miss my brothers and sisters." He took another gulp of whiskey and winced as it burned his throat.

"I found their bodies." He told Dolores sadly. "They were grown up but I could still tell it was them." He looked at Dolores's frozen plastic expression and barked a bitter, humorless laugh. "I'm probably not making any sense to you. Did I even explain what happened last time we spoke?" 

Five drunkenly relayed the details of the turn of events that had led him to his current predicament. The fight with his father, traveling through time, finding himself in the apocalypse, finding he could not travel backwards.

"I hoped at first I could still fix everything." Five curled up next to Dolores, shivering a little in his damp clothes. "Thought that the equations just needed a bit of tweaking then I'd be home." He shook his head ruefully. "I've been so naive." 

He lay quietly, sipping the whisky until it numbed him in to a fitful, exhausted sleep. 

The next morning Five woke up next to Dolores with a pained groan. He looked blearily into her placid face then quickly staggered to his feet and stumbled as far away he could get from her before throwing up everything he had in his stomach. 

Five moaned and rubbed his eyes. It was still raining and streams of water poured from various holes in the room, enlarging the inky puddles on the floor. Five moved around blearily, trying not to trip as he looked for a cascade of water that ran clear and drank until he no longer felt like a dried out husk of himself. The water tasted like metal and ash and seemed to just sit in his stomach and not get absorbed and sent to his pounding head where it was clearly needed. He could feel it slosh around unpleasantly when he moved.

''Sorry about that." He told Dolores. "Sorry about last night." He noticed he had knocked Delores over and sat her back up carefully. 

"I just had a bit of a set back." His throat burned with acid and his eyes felt like they were being slowly pushed out from behind. 

"I'm never drinking again." He told Dolores. "This is horrible, I don't know how Klaus dealt with being hungover in training so often."

Dolores sat quietly, her face carefree with a placid smile.

"Well anyway, thanks for listening." He got up to leave but then hesitated. 

"I don't suppose you want to come along?" He asked Dolores.

There was a beat of silence apart from the trickle of water onto concrete and the dull patter of the rain outside. 

"Oh you got something better to do?" He asked Dolores amused. 

"I didn't think so." He smirked after another beat of silence. He picked Dolores up and carried her with him out into the street. "Mind the potholes." he warned her as they picked there way through the turned up pavement and fallen buildings. "This neighborhood's really gone to shit."


End file.
